American revolutionary movement in Scottish opinion, 1763 to 1783

Abstract

Preliminary to this study it is necessary to recognize the economic, social, religious, and 'intellectual development which had taken place in Scotland before the period of the American Revolution. Largely in consequence of the Union, the tobacco trade of Glasgow had become second only to that of London. The demands of the trade for manufactured goods stimulated Scottish Industries and provided capital for investment. Expanding trade and manufactures stimulated developments in communications, mining, finance, and agriculture, and raised standards of living. In the meantime , by t aid-century, political, independence had become neither practical nor desireable, and Scotland was playing an increasing role in national life through the appointment of Scots to offices at home and abroad.

Some consequences of these developments were seen already in the third quarter of the century when laws of property were altered to facilitate the development of lands, and business was encouraged by the reform, of bankruptcy laws as well as by the expansion of banking and the construction of roads and. canals. Before the American war the transformation had begun in Scottish agriculture which made it at the end of the century almost the best in Europe, afforestation was practised, the linen and thread industries were important British manufactures, the Carron Iron Works was established, Greenock had become an important sea port and Glasgow a great trading and manufacturing town, landlord and tenant relations in the Highlands were shifting from a social to a more strictly economic basis, and in the towns an artisan class was growing. Accompanying the commercial, industrial, and agricultural enterprise was the vigorous intellectual life of eighteenth century Scotland which made important and original contributions to economic theory and agricultural experimentation as well as to more abstract sciences and maintained at least a measure of independence in political thought. The impact on Scottish life of the economic and intellectual expansion had been evidenced in the rise of Moderatism in the church. The growth of trade, manufactures, and population, and the social change involved insured dissatisfaction with political arrangements which were designed to keep in power groups dominant at. the beginning of the century. The failure of the Jacobites, a decline in the encompassing position of the church, the vigour and variety of intellectual activity, an expanding newspaper circulation and printing industry provided conditions favourable to a new examination of questions relating to the exercise of political control in Scotland. It is in the context of this situation that the question of the American Revolution in Scottish opinion must be considered.

The procedure followed has been to examine, first, some factors contributing to Scottish interest in the American colonies; second, evidence of growing political awareness within Scotland; and, third, Scottish opinion concerning the war, and the associated development of a Scottish political opposition. The emphasis is primarily on local Scottish affairs as distinguished from Scottish participation in the higher levels of British governmental and military activity.

The strongest ties between Scotland and the colonies were a result of the tobacco trade and emigration. A chapter on the trade includes a survey of its nature as well as its extent, its relative importance to the Scottish economy, and the difficulties occasioned by the American disputes. In a chapter on emigration attention is given to the population link with the colonies and to the concern aroused in Scotland by the problem of large scale emigration shortly before the war.